"A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons' Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships there were calls for an "opt out of PvP" option.
Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online. Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?"
Over the past two years I have written extensively regarding PvP in Eve, the challenges that new players face, the perils of Null, Low and Hi sec space, and offered solutions from both sides of the fence. A few months ago I even wrote the entire opening Chapter on what could potentially become a paradigm shift in the new player experience - The Sanctuary Training Program. ( Essentially Newb systems would become Sanctuary systems, plus other incredibly intelligent stuff )
I've even spent a good portion of time debating a way to make consensual PvP actually work within the framework of Eve with The Thunderdome concepts, HERE and HERE and even HERE.
Despite all of those attempts and more, the truth remains the truth. Player Versus Player combat remains the cornerstone of the Eve experience. And it should remain the cornerstone of the Eve experience for all of eternity, in my mind it is sacrosanct. Almost Holy.
Having said that, let's move on to the real issue at hand. Fundamental changes are needed to the underpinnings of that experience. In order to make the universal experience of Player Versus Player combat more fair, more even and more predictable for all of our players.
True Sec status needs to be implemented universally across the board in all systems.
That Sec Status, per individual system, needs to be used to generate Global Criminal Countdowns. Aggression timers need to be eliminated, as they serve little purpose other than confusion. GCC needs to be based on the True Sec status of the system in which it was initiated. Period. The lower the Sec Status the lower the GCC timer. Predictable, fair and even-handed.
As a consequence of this system of True Sec based GCC, True Hi-Sec becomes virtually impossible to engage in ganking. War Decs would continue, and they really are a side issue like Faction Warfare. But "ganking", while not 100% eliminated, would become very, very rare. And here's why. Anyone with a negative sec status that enters a Hi-Sec system with a high enough True Sec rating - would be destroyed at the gate. Boom. Anything other than a Pod gets blowed up real good.
This does not eliminate ganking in Hi-Sec. In fact it would keep it the same in systems with TS status hovering above low-sec for example. It would only make it increasingly difficult the further up the TS rating you went. And virtually impossible in say .9 systems. I'm certainly not against ganking, heck I've done it myself more than a few times.
It makes perfect sense. Why does CONCORD tolerate criminals in Hi-Sec anyway? They say they don't, god knows I get enough warnings, but they never do anything about it. They should.
In order to "gank" someone in Hi-Sec the attacking party would have to manage their Sec Status, pick systems on the borderline of True Sec Hi Sec, and hunt only when those two things matched up. Conversely, the rewards for those mining, missioning, or otherwise using those systems would go up correspondingly based on lower True Sec ratings. Higher risk means higher rewards for everyone - both hunter and hunted.
This doesn't change anything about Eve that we all love, it works within the already established frameworks, and ensures an almost safe haven for anyone willing to spend their lives in highly rated Hi Sec systems. The reward for living a life like that would be small, to encourage them to move along, but for new players especially it would give them a fighting chance to get started off on the right foot. Not 100% safe, but very close.
I don't think we need special mods, special ships, or special anything to achieve what we all want to achieve. A viable, vibrant, dangerous universe with a few places that are safer than others.
So let's do this. Like next week, k?
For more opinions on this exciting topic, visit FREEBOOTED!
@RockCalledSteve (or Moose) twitted this morning looking for a blogger that happened to be on. GIven recent events he felt compelled to record a bit of a rant regarding the CSM/CCP debate and the changes that Eve has undergone. Here is the message in his own words:
"Greetings Bloggers of #Tweetfleet.
I come to you as a third party, essentially on my knees, asking you to consider sharing something of mine to the community.
I have found a lot of the current grief the CSM is getting is from people in EVE - mainly in Empire - who have not been around long enough to understand what EVE once was, compared to what it is now.
With this in mind, I have created a 22 minute long explanation of what's happened and why, with a bit of history thrown in, for people to listen to.
I am not using this as an advertisement for a podcast of any kind - this is a one off recording that, bar maybe a single new recording answering criticism, won't have a sequel to it. Or rather, that is the plan.
I would like you to have a listen to it. If you're willing to post this to your blog, I would be very much in your debt. Feel free to post any negative or positive comments you have for it as well.
I will leave it up to you."
- Moose
You can listen to the recording by using this link.
NOTE: There are some potentially NSFW moments of profanity, mild by most definitions, but perhaps not by all. Worth mentioning.
I just finished listening to it myself, I felt I should hear the whole thing before I post it obviously. And while it is a bit of a ramble, the general thrust is simple enough. Eve was a different game when it first started out, and while my own experience only goes back three years, others were here from the beginning. This does provide a unique perspective, having been there from the beginning, and a worthy one.
I think we can all agree that CCP has dropped the ball in many, many instances. Promised iteration of various game mechanics that never developed further, abandoned areas of opportunity, have become more and more commonplace. This has sadly become more and more true as time has gone on. The recent "Straw that broke the camel's back" moment this Summer was simply the culmination of years of this slow, rotten decay.
And Eve began to smell. And while Moose and I may differ slightly on some of the details and levels at which we may give praise and/or blame, one thing unites us - and that is the power of the Eve Community. A power I tend to place more squarely in the hands of the masses and which he seems more likely to place in the hands of the CSM. Ultimate responsibility matters little in the face of success however, the important thing is that CCP has changed direction and re-focused efforts on FiS and other areas. Before it was too late. Hopefully.
I encourage you to listen. This is one voice that has been here since the beginning. And while it is only one voice, so am I, and so are you. But together we can have meaning and power.
Over a month ago I wrote a series about the CSM and CCP, mostly focused on why the actions of both over the Summer were ultimately bad for EVE itself. The series gained a lot of exposure, traffic and generated other blog posts blah blah yadda yadda. The point being, specifically when it came to CCP, I was correct.
Today's news that CCP is reducing or moving 20% of its staff and "that we are attempting too many things for a company our size." is confirmation of my basic premise - that CCP was overextended and this is bad for EVE.
At the time several sources within CCP as much as admitted that I had hit the nail on the head. Or at least had come closer than I might had thought, since I had NO inside information to base my conclusions on. The subsequent letter from CEO Hilmar started the ball rolling ( I would suggest that letter was an excellent "monkey" btw, well done. ) and recent changes have put CCP back on track once more.
Sadly, for me, I hate being right in this case. Mostly that has to do with the potential layoffs that will result. So for everyone that is impacted by today's news, my sincere and heartfelt condolences. I hope for you and your family's sake that you find employment again quickly.
The other side of me is glad that CCP listened and is making the necessary changes to address their issues now, rather than later. This is a good sign. And as hard as it is on those affected, it means good things for the future.
I'm not suggesting that my series had anything to do with the change in direction at CCP, so don't put words in my mouth. I do know that series was read by at least 45,000 people, give or take a dozen or so. So someone read it. And maybe it had some small part to play.
Either way. Onward and upward.
Sure looks like the Tornado might be coming to life someday soon. New Minnie BS, T3 Battleship or whatever, new ships are always exciting news around the Eve community. It has been awhile since we've had a new PvP ship to get excited about, so this is welcome news. Personally I hope the Tornado is simply a new addition to the Minnie fleet and not a new ship category yet. I think each race could use a new BS to compliment the armada (especially the poor Caldari) before we move on to some new ship category.
But the details remain to be seen, so we'll wait on that news.
In other news ship spinning has returned.
Honestly, and I know I've said this before, I really didn't miss it. But I'm glad it's back. That door was getting annoying, so much so that I generally refused to look at it and kept undocking to find good fights!
And now we get news that the Planetary Customs Offices are going to be player controlled and owned. And while I don't participate in PI this seems like a huge shift in structure control within the universe of New Eden. Certainly this raises the bar somewhat on player versus player conflict, but just how much remains to be seen. I suppose there might be areas within New Eden where more PI happens than I am aware of, and perhaps those places might be hotter than others?
All in all I am in support of anything that puts more of the game in control of the players. Generally speaking that is always a good start. The rest can be dealt with down the road, with balancing, market controls, etc. So we'll have to wait and see what real impact this huge change has in actual game play.
For me it potentially removes an easy warp to destination, if no one puts up a CO around a planet, since right now they virtually all have one. But other than that, I can't see it impacting my game play significantly.
More importantly it feels like CCP has finally started to gain the upper hand again on the news front, and that is good news for everyone. Whatever you think about "ship spinning" personally, they listened to the players and brought it back. And now, with more changes, news, upgrades, ships and balancing in our future, it really feels like Eve is getting back its mojo once more.
If this is the start of the promise of changes at CCP, of the words in Hilmar's letter to the players, then it is a good start. And an exciting time once more in New Eden.
Our Norse God Hilmar Veigar ( close enough, the Norse had something to do with Iceland y'know! ) threw down the hammer today with this heart-felt, honest and game-changing letter to the Eve community.
It seems that many of my assumptions about CCP losing sight of the goals that made them a great company were not far off the mark. And I am extremely pleased to see that they've taken a much needed deep breath and are trying to re-focus.
Thank you. It is one huge step in the right direction, and while much remains to be seen, it would be extremely difficult to imagine anyone going back on such a strong statement. As if to prove the point, we immediately got a follow up dev blog that laid out the re-focused attention that FiS will be getting this Winter. And while the blog was light on details, it does offer some hope that within the next 11 weeks or so, space will be getting some much needed attention.
Hybrid weapons balancing - long time coming. Maybe now I can fit a Hybrid weapon on a ship without feeling like a dufus.
Factional warfare - doesn't affect me directly, but I know a lot of people care about this, which means I do as well
Assault ships - What about them? I wonder.
Capital ship balancing - Huge issue, pardon the pun.
New T2 modules - Could be interesting.
Starbase logistics management - I don't even know what this is, but if they're fixing it someone will be happy
New EWAR-Drones - Ok, I think the ones we have just need balanced, but let's see what you have in mind.
T2 Rigs manufacturing - This is about making stuff isn't it?
Ship spinning - yeah!
New font
More captains quarters
Time dilation
And while this might not be a complete list, it is certainly a large one. Maybe too big? Or have some of these things been in development for awhile? I guess we'll all find out in the coming weeks. I'll have more to say about some of these in coming posts, several of them stand out to me one way or the other.
But for now, let's not dilute what has been an important day. The Eve community has spoken and CCP has listened. Some people are already re-subbing, The Mittani seems to be taking more credit than he deserves, Twitter is on fire, the feedback seems extremely positive, so all seems right with the universe again.
Whew. Summer is officially over in New Eden.
